Agenda and minutes

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By entering the meeting room and using the public seating area, you are consenting to being filmed and to the possible use of those images and sound recordings.

The chair of the meeting has the discretion to terminate or suspend filming or recording, if in his or her opinion continuation of the filming, recording or reporting would disrupt or prejudice the proceedings, infringe the rights of any individual or may lead to the breach of a legal obligation by the Council.

The Chair referred Members present to agenda Item 1 as shown on the agenda in respect of filming at this meeting, and Members noted the information contained therein’.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Buxton and Cllr Barnes.

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of urgent business (late items will be considered under the agenda item where they appear. New items will be dealt with as noted below).

There were no items of Urgent Business

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a prejudicial interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered:

(i) must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent, and

(ii) may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must withdraw from the meeting room.

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Register of Members’ Interests or the subject of a pending notification must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal interests and prejudicial interests are defined at Paragraphs 5-7 and Appendix A of the Members’ Code of Conduct.

None.

To consider any requests received in accordance with Part 4, Section B, Paragraph 29 of the Council’s Constitution.

None.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting. 

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meeting on 6^th March were agreed as a correct record.

RESOLVED

That the Panel:

     I.        Noted the terms of reference (attached at Appendix A) and Protocol (attached at Appendix B) for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and its Panels.

    II.        Noted the policy areas/remits and membership for each Scrutiny Panel for 2025/26 (as set out in Appendix C of the report).  

The Panel received a report which set out how the Occupational Therapy (OT) Aids and Adaptions service operated and how it interfaced with Housing. The report provided an overview and service offer across Adults and Children’s services, with a focus on council housing stock, and the impact on council tenants. The report was introduced by Jahedur Rahman, Director of Housing, Christian Carlisle, AD for Asset Management, and Alexandra Domingue, Commissioning Programme Manager. Also present for this item were Cllr Williams, Cabinet Member for Housing Planning,  and Cllr Das Neves, Cabinet Member for Health, Social Care and Wellbeing. The following arose during the discussion of this item:

a.    The Chair sought clarification about the £1k threshold for minor versus major works and whether this was across all tenures, and whether it was means tested. In response, officers advised that all works below £1k were not means tested. The organisation was reviewing means testing for works over £1k. Officers clarified that the threshold was £1k in total, so this would include a package of smaller jobs that added up to that amount. Cllr Das Neves advised that nationally the threshold for when means testing might be used tended to be around £30k.

b.    In response to a question about a drop in the number of cases in 2023/24 compared to the previous year, officers advised that it was possible this drop reflected a higher percentage of non-Council properties being fitted for aids and adaptions that year. Officers also set out that there were some resourcing issues around that time, which have subsequently been rectified, including the recruitment of additional surveyors.

c.    In response to a question, officers advised that the Housing Aids and Adaptions Policy was in draft and was being reviewed by Housing colleagues. It was anticipated this would be ready in a few months.

d.    In response to a question, officers advised that the CQC did an inspection of Adult Social Care and in general they had positive comments about OT, but were concerned about things like waiting lists. The Adults Health Scrutiny Panel had also asked officers to evidence how they were incorporating the voice of the residents in this. The Director of Housing advised that any policy that went to Cabinet for Approval would also go to the Resident Voice Board first for their feedback and consultation.

e.    The Panel queried whether aids and adaptions were carried out on to housing association properties. In response, officers advised that the aids and adaptions were carried out for the residents rather than the provider, so yes work was done on housing association properties, but their permission was needed.

f.     In response to a question about caseloads, officers advised that the number of cases was down to around 350 and that this was specific to the OT Sensory team. Those people on the waiting list were very likely to have already been seen by the OT Duty team and offered minor adjustments.

g.    In reference to recruitment of Occupational Therapists, officers  ...  view the full minutes text for item 241.

The Panel received a presentation which provided an overview of Housing Service performance, comparing year-end results for 2024/25 and 2023/24.  It included the KPIs used in the services monthly reporting and covered areas such as; repairs and voids, compliance, asset management, tenancy management, estates & neighbourhoods, income collection, leaseholder services, and support & wellbeing. The presentation was introduced by Jahedur Rahman, Director of Housing as set out in the published agenda pack at pages 61-92. Paul McCabe, Head of Repairs was also present for this agenda item, along with Christian Carlisle and Neehara Wijeyesekera, AD Housing Management. Cllr Williams, Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning was present for this item. The following arose during the discussion of this item:

1. The Panel sought raised concerns about the length of time it would take to undertake tenancy checks and sought clarification about the frequency with which they would be undertaken. In response, officers advised that they were committed to complete 20% tenancy checks year-on year, so that would mean all tenancy checks would be completed on a five-year cycle. In response to a follow up, officers advise that the checks were undertaken by the housing officer responsible for that location, and that it was done through an in-person visit.
2. The Panel sought an update around progress on bringing the Noel Park Estate up to the Decent Homes Standard. In response, officers advised that the programme was split into two phases. Stage one was completed earlier this year and stage two would begin later this year. Officers provided assurances that they were still committed to undertaking all of the renovations in Noel Park.
3. The Panel sought clarification about the Decent Homes standard and how the Council would be able to meet the decency standard on the remaining 20% of homes, given the 2.3% improvement in the last year. In response, officers advised that they had agreed a five-year plan on getting to a 100% decency rate with the regulator. This plan had year-on-year targets for decency levels, and the Director of Housing officers advised that he was confident that the organisation would meet those year-on-year targets. The Director of housing advised that the organisation had gone from a position where 32% of homes were non-decent when he arrived, to 20% in around two years. Officers also acknowledged that the year-on-year targets were back loaded, and assurances were given that additional capacity had been built in in order to achieve this. Officers advised that a key factor was having the supply chain contracts in place, which Cabinet had recently agreed. In response to a follow up question, the Cabinet Member commented that she did not think that there was a big gap between what a tenant might consider a decent home and what the technical definition was. Both included things like double glazing, modern kitchens and a reasonable standard of repairs.
4. The Panel sought assurances around the reason behind an increase in new voids up from 393 in 2023/24 to 619 in 2024/25. In response, officers  ...  view the full minutes text for item 242.

The Panel received a report which set out a summary of the Resident Engagement Annual Review that covered the financial year 2023-2024. The Annual Review document was attached to the report at Appendix A. The report was introduced by Neehara Wijeyesekera, AD for Housing Management as set out in the agenda pack at pages 93-120. Reda Khelladi, Community & Resident Engagement Manager was also present for this item along with Cllr Sarah Williams, Cabinet Member for Housing & Planning. Afia Ankrumah, the chair of the resident voice board (and a Haringey tenant) was also present for this item. The following arose as part of the discussion of this item:

1. The Panel commented that it would be helpful in future iterations of this report if there was a breakdown of the geographic location of resident associations across the borough. In response, officers agreed to provide this as part of the 2024/25 report and commented that the number of associations had increased to 26.
2. In response to a question about the community food box, officers acknowledged that the relevance for this service had diminished since Covid, given the number of food banks and similar organisations operating in the borough. Officers advised that they would continue to work with partners in this area.
3. The Panel sought clarification about how we advocate the resident voice board to the wider group of residents, particularly those who weren’t particularly engaged. In response, officers advised that they were confident that they had created a process which worked but acknowledged that it was a process that was in development. It was commented that part of this was around including those that were not in the resident governance structure and that they were working to create digital engagement for specific groups. The chair of resident voice board advised that as residents they also talked to other residents informally about resident engagement. It was noted that, as the chair, she had appeared in the residents’ magazine and that people stopped to talk to her. 
4. The Panel sought assurances that resident engagement was happening in every estate across the borough. In response, officers commented that people from across Haringey were represented in the engagement framework. It was also stated that there was a resident association network which brought together the chairs and secretaries of each resident association, and which met every two months. The Director of Housing commented that the resident engagement framework was only 18 months old and acknowledged that there was room for it to grow. The Director commented that having 50 people involved was considered to be good progress, especially compared to what a number of other boroughs were performing in this area.
5. The Chair commented that the statement in the report around every resident having a 30 minute slot as part of the estate drop-ins did not necessarily chime with his experience. In response the Cabinet Member acknowledged that there was a mixed picture and that some drop-in sessions were busier than others.
6. In response to a question, officers  ...  view the full minutes text for item 243.

Verbal Update

The Panel undertook a verbal Q&A session with the Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning (Deputy Leader), Sarah Williams on matters arising in her portfolio. The following arose as part the discussion:

a.    A member of Panel commented that he attended an event during the day and that at the event he had a conversation with people from another London borough, who had raised concerns about the level of technological advancement in new build properties, compared to existing housing stock. Of particular concern was the heating systems and the fact that the repairs staff didn’t know how to work them. In response, the Cabinet Member acknowledged that councils hadn’t built any new homes in a generation and that this resulted in a lack of organisational memory. The Cabinet Member suggested that Haringey would be able to build up the skills in its workforce quite quickly. The Council has undertaken a separate contract of repairs for new builds, which was time limited and included a provision for our existing repairs staff to be trained up on mechanical heating and ventilation systems. The Panel was also advised that new build properties would have more wrap around care from tenancy managers for thinks like using air source heat pumps. In regards to landscaping, the Panel were advised that there was a two-year contract in place to manage landscaping on new builds, which should provide enough time to build in a programme of ongoing maintenance from existing staff.

b.    The Panel requested a summary of survey feedback that was collected from tenants who had moved into new build properties. In response, the Cabinet Member acknowledged that this was collected as an annual report and that she would circulate the Annual Council House Building report to the Panel. (Action: Cllr Williams).

c.    The Panel raised concerns about delays to works at Kenneth Robbins House and Stellar House. The Panel sought clarification if residents had been advised that reason for the delays was because of legislative changes brought in by the government. In response, the Cabinet Member commented that she shared the Panel’s frustrations. It was clarified that any works being undertaken to a building above a certain height now had to be cleared by the building safety regulator. The regulator had a two year backlog for approvals. The Cabinet Member advised that residents of both blocks had been advised of the reasons for the delays. The Director of Housing advised that the Council was as keen as residents to get the works underway. The contract had been awarded and the contractor was ready to start in March last year, but the works needed to be signed off by the regulator before they could start. The Panel was advised that the works could start from December 2025 onwards based on the current backlog.

d.    In response to a follow-up question, officers advised that the delays would not invalidate the original contract but that it was possible there could be additional costs arising from the delay.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 244.

The Chair commented to the Panel that he would like to do a scrutiny review around the downsizing policy later in the year.

RESOLVED

That the Panel:

1. Noted the terms of reference (at Appendix A) and Protocol (at Appendix B) for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and its Panels; and

2. noted the policy areas/remits and membership for each Scrutiny Panel for 2023/24 (at Appendix C).  

To consider any items admitted at item 3 above.

N/A

·         7^th October

·         17 November

·         15 December

·         9 March 2026

·         23 September (amended)

·         17 November

·         15 December

·         9 March